September 18, 2009 09:58 by
philip
Photo: Unknown Source: Arnost Vochala
At first, I thought I was in for a convict story. The visitor to the Immigration Discovery Centre was holding out an old photograph of a scary-looking prisoner and clutching a bundle of papers. But he was also pointing at himself, and after a few seconds I saw the resemblance. "It's you!" I realised, before hearing the story of three Czechoslovakian friends arriving in Adelaide, 1949, and making friends among "the theatrical crowd." Result? A newspaper article about "one of the biggest night crowds ever seen at Glenelg" - BIG CROWD SEES MARDI GRAS - at which the fancy-dress prize "went to three New Australians who arrived from Czechoslovakia three months ago....all of Kilkenny, who wore striped pyjamas and 'trimmings' to represent a chain gang."
Proudly, the man held out a second photograph, saying "that's Oldrich, that's Ziri - and that's me." Curious party - and not a bad effort for a bunch of immigrants still recovering from jetlag.
Photo: Unknown Source: Arnost Vochala
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